Criticato
by MaMa Kass
Summary: Fear was the only thing that she could feel and fear is what he saw...
1. Decisions

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Disclaimer: Yes all belongs to Tamora, except the characters that are obviously made up, which are mine. 

A/N: This is my first TP fiction and I hope that all of you will like it as much as I have enjoyed writing. Kudos to those who know what the title means, review and tell me what you think it is.

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"Ouch!" A young girl of about seven yelled at a girl who looked equal to herself. The girl who had yelled was sitting in the dirt glaring up at the other girl who had knocked her down. 

"Oh quite being a baby and get up!" The standing girl exclaimed reaching out a hand to help her sister out of the mud. The girl reached up and clasped hands, and in one quick, practiced movement she pulled hard on her sister's hand and pushed up with her feet, causing her sister to go flying face first into the mud and herself to stand up.

"Well that went well." A smirk showing on the girls' face. 

Alendle and Arcadia of the fief Dunsmuir were twins. Each with long, sleek black hair that reached to the middle of their backs and dark blue eyes. They lived a life of two young boys not two young girls, they worked the land and went to Corus every month to sell their goods with their father. 

A short plump woman leaning on the windowsill, which looked out over the large orchards of apples, cherries, and pears, watching the two girls wrestle. She laughed at how it was always a constant battle between them, yet they always seemed to come out of everything the same, with a tie.

"Girls! Supper's on the table." Both heads turned toward the sound of their mother's voice and then Arcadia who had been knocked down first, now looked down at her sister, who still sat in her place and said.

"Last one there chases chickens tonight!" And in a flash both girls were racing towards the house at lightning speed. 

The twins had been born into a time of opportunity and a time of great trouble in Tortall. War was threatening every second between Scanra and Galla, and somehow Tortall would be caught in the crossfire. They had however been born into a time where they would have a choice of what to do with their lives. 

On one side they could grow up like any other girl their age, and go to the convent to be prepared for marriage. And on the other hand they had a choice of going to the royal palace in Corus to train and become knights of Tortall. Even though there had only been two women knights before their time, one of which changed history, and the other being brave and fighting for a life that she wanted for herself, their parents believed that they needed to know that they had a choice. 

Even though these two girls could possibly bring their family great wealth being sent off to be married, their parents had made a promise that the choice would be the girls' alone. Now that they were approaching their eighth birthdays, their father and mother had been talking of their training. If they were going to go to the palace, they had to have a little background on use of weapons and so on.

"I'm going to the market again in two days." The twin's father announced as they all sat around the table eating their meal. The girls looked up excitedly at their father.

"Are we going to sell the cherries this time?" Alendle asked with a mouth full of food. Both girls awaited their father's answer, picking cherries was the best part of gardening, they had the best cherries around and the twins knew well how good they really were. 

When their father didn't answer, they glanced sideways at each other and Arcadia started to ask the question her sister had just asked. 

"No, the cherries aren't quite ready yet to be picked, plus hardly any of them actually make it to the market, you two always seem to find a way to eat them all." Their mother, Lalee, said with amusement in her voice.

"Girls, I've been thinking about you two lately." Their father finely said. They both turned to him with questioning looks; they didn't always get this at dinner. "Your almost eight, and yes I do know that it's still two years off, but you two need to start thinking about going to the convent or the palace."

There was a long awkward silence, during which the twins were taken back by their father's remark. Arcadia was the first to speak for the two.

"But we don't know yet. Why do you want to know now?"

"If you two choose to go to the palace, I need to start training you seriously in the art of weaponry. And that will take some time, so I would like to know before I go to the market." He finished.

Both girls looked at one another not knowing what to say. 

"May we be excused?" Alendle asked. Their father shook his head yes, with an expression of utter disappointment. The twins then took their dishes to the kitchen, feeding their leftovers to the dog, and went silently up to their room.

"What should we do?" Alendle asked her sister, who was sitting a bed next to hers. Arcadia looked down at her fingers and then looked back up at her mirror.

"I can fight better than any boy around here, and I can fight a lot better than you. So I should go to the palace and you should go be a _girl."_ She quickly ducked, just missing a pillow that had been thrown at her head.

"You are not! I'm just as good as you, we're twins remember." Alendle said and then quickly dodged her own pillow, which she had previously thrown at her sister.

Downstairs Alexander and Lalee of fief Dunsmuir sat drinking cool water and listening to the laughter of their twin daughters upstairs.

"Well I think that they took that very well, better than I thought they would." Alex said. Lalee looked sharply at him and replied,

"Why are you making them chose so soon, Alex? You know that they don't know yet, and you're only giving them two days?"

"But don't you hear them up there? They're not crying or yelling at me, I think they already know and have known what they want to choose for quite a while, don't you?" Alex said shifting under his wife's glare. She sighed and shook her head, looking out the window.

"You don't know how much I'm going to miss them." Lalee stood and picked up the rest of the dishes on the table.

N N

A dark figure sat on the branch of a tall pine tree watching as a slim figured girl picked fruit from a tree. The sweat that poured down her face told it that she had been working hard for a long time. A laugh escaped its lips before it disappeared with a snap.

Alendle used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off of her forehead, and then reached out and grabbed another apple and throwing it back, catching it with her gift and placing it lightly in the large wicker basket strapped to her back.

This was the last spring she would be spending at home, because that fall she and her twin sister would be riding for the royal palace in Corus, the capitol of Tortal. Now that the legendary Alanna of Pirates Swoop had paved a way for female knights, and then the first girl to train after her, Keldry of Mildren, the two girls were going to be in a line of many more to come. 

Alendle fished for another apple in the branches in her reach without success, she felt the tip of her fingers touch an apple and extended her arm as far as she could. She then loosened her grip on the branch with her legs and leaned forward just enough to grab the apple. The apple in hand she sat up and threw it back, just before she realized that she had fallen off of the tree branch.

A young girl walked out of the back door of her country house into the orchards with an empty basket, waiting to be filled once more. She threw the basket's strap over her shoulder and slung the basket behind her. She started to walk out into the orchard when she spotted her sister hovering a few inches above the ground.

"Alendle, what are you doing?" Arcadia, Alendle's twin sister, yelled to the hovering figure. 

"Arcadia, please help me!" Alendle pleaded in a scared voice. Alendle had closed her eyes ready for impact and then she had just never hit.

"How are you doing that, Alendle?" Arcadia had finally reached her sister, ignoring her plea for help and was circling her looking at her body, which was hovering at just above her waist. She slowly reached out her hand and poked her sister seeing if she would move.

"Arcadia! I asked for help, not for you to come and poke at me. Now help me down!" Alendle screamed at her sister. 

"Why can't you get down by yourself? You got up there didn't you?" Arcadia said after backing away from her sister. 

"I can't get down, because I don't know how I'm doing this. I was reaching for an apple and then the next thing I know I'm falling off of the tree. Now I'm like this and I really want to get down." Alendle explained in a worried voice. Arcadia looked at her sister and then removed her basket and placing on the ground, then removed Alendle's basket also. She then took a hold of her sister's middle and pulled hard. 

Nothing happened, Arcadia continued to pull on her sister until Alendle yelled,

"Stop now, Arcadia it's starting to hurt."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Arcadia asked putting her hands on her hips. Alendle looked around her, try to think of something.

"What about using your gift?" She asked.

"Well if you don't know how you got there, how am I supposed to know how to get you down?" Arcadia asked. She could tell that Alendle was starting to panic, and she had to think of something quick. She couldn't call for their parents, because they both had gone to Corus early that morning, to sell goods and to buy supplies. The girls had been left to tend to the farm. She took a deep breath and put her hands out in front of her.

Slowly dark blue magic flowed from her fingers and started to engulf her sister. The magic began to get thicker and started to blaze brightly. Alendle closed her eyes and bite down on her bottom lip. 

Then Arcadia felt a pull on her magic and when she pulled back, it seemed to tighten its grip on her sister. There was something else keeping Alendle up there, and it wasn't letting go. Arcadia scowled and yelled with her mind, through her magic,

_You let go of my sister, before I get really mad._

Arcadia pulled hard with her gift and then she heard a distant laughing, whoever was holding on to her sister was laughing at her. And then Alendle came crashing down onto the ground, which knocked the breath right out of her. She lay there for a minute, catching her breath and then sat up looking at her sister.

"Arcadia, what's wrong?" Arcadia was staring up at a branch in the large pine tree that sat alone at the end of their land.

"It's laughing at me."


	2. Mists

A/N: Well here's the second chapter, unfortunatly I have gotten only one reviewI thought you'd all read it, oh well all I can hope for is that at least some of you read it and enjoy it. 

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"Ready to go, girls?" Alexander of fief Dunsmuir called up a long row of wooden stairs. Suddenly there was a loud crash and then a door bust open. "Lalee, hold the vase!" Alex yelled to his wife. 

Two figures came pushing and shoving each other down the stairs. A short plump woman stood in the kitchen holding a large glass vase down on the counter. She laughed and watched as her twin daughters came rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Watch-Watch the vase!" Lalee screamed at the two girls. Both girls stopped in front of their mother with the look of small puppies. She laughed at them and hugged them close to her, as a tear escaped her eye. "Now you two be good and write back to me, understand?" She said wiping the tear away. Both girls reached up on their tiptoes and kissed their mother's cheek. She smiled and hurried them along, as they ran towards the front door were three horses awaited them.

Three finely bred steeds waited anxiously, pawing the ground, for their riders. They had all been recently purchased when Alex and his daughters had sold the last of their goods at the market. 

A young man of about 19 had been selling the horses and they had liked the looks of them. The young man had looked a little suspicious with his common clothes selling grand horses. But after thoroughly checking the horses out, Alex had approved and when the man had seen the two girls leading the horses towards him he hadlowered the price for the fine steeds.

Both girls were very happy at the purchase and their father had said an extra thank you to the young man, with a cautious eye. The young man had caught the look and waved a gloved hand towards Alex with a warm smile. Alex promised that he would have a talk with him the next time they met.

Now it was time for him to take Alendle and Arcadia to their soon to be home, the royal palace of Tortall. The girls mounted their steeds and then went to ride around the house, waiting for their father to get ready. 

N N

"Two? From the same fief?" A man richly dressed in emerald velvet breeches that hung loosely on his legs, and a white cotton shirt under a vest that matched his breeches, Jonathan of Conte asked in a surprised voice. 

The king of Tortall, Jonathan of Conte, had gone through his years in the palace with the first woman knight, Alanna. He had been four years older than she had and they had been lovers then, but now he was with his queen Thayet, and Alanna was happy with her husband, Baron George of Pirates Swoop. 

After Alanna had revealed her true identity to the royal courts and had still been awarded her shield the rules changed. And after Jon had been crowned king, he had made a law that women could now come and train to be knights at the royal palace. 

Then came Keldry. She was to be the second female knight, but when a training master had challenged Jon's law, Jon had made a compromise, much to Alanna's dismay, and had a probationary year for Kel. After that he had thought that most females would want nothing to do with the palace. But now that he had been brought news of two more girls coming to the palace, he was thoroughly excited.

He wouldn't give them the same treatment as he had Kel, that was a bad decision and he wouldn't give into Weldon like he had with Kel. Wait there was _two _of them?

"Why are there two?" Jon asked his right hand man Gareth of Naxen. Gareth's eyes twinkled with a devilish glimmer.

"They're twins."

N N

Midday found Alex and his daughters trotting slowly into open country, with no cover for miles ahead. They stopped at the edge of the forest and sat in the shade, which would be their last until night. They each got into their saddlebags and pulled out a flask. Two flasks full of rich apple juice for the girls and a flask of sweet plum wine for their father. 

They shared a bag of cherries and a few pieces of freshly baked bread before mounting up on their horses and forging on into the smoldering heat. The sun was soon on their backs and they all began to shed layers until they all only had on a thin cotton shirt and light brown breeches. They each used an over shirt to wipe away the sweat on their brows, and rode on in silence.

Night came and so did the strange mists that covered the bare land. Alex looked around the perimeter of the campfire, looking for anything. He unrolled their bedrolls and laid them out next to each other, so they all surrounded the fire. He called out to the girls who had gone out a few minutes earlier to bathe in the stream and heard them giggle as they splashed one another.

"Arcadia! Alendle! Time for bed girls!" He hollered towards them. He got into his bedroll and waited for the girls to come back.

"Alendle, hurry up, I'm freezing." Arcadia said through chattering teeth. She had gotten out of the water first and dried off with the one towel that they shared. She made haste drying off and jumping right into her warm bedclothes. She handed the towel to her sister and held her clothes for her while she dried.

"Here, hand me my pants, quick before I die of cold!" Alendle said taking the pair of layered cotton pants that her sister had held out to her. After she was dressed she wrapped her sisters wet hair in a tight knot with a leather strap, and then turned so her sister could do the same for her. 

After that was done they started to make their way back to their camp, and for the first time they realized the fog that had rolled in since they had arrived. They began to walk faster toward the camp when Arcadia suddenly came to a stop, causing Alendle to run into her back.

"What's wrong?" Alendle asked rubbing her forehead. Arcadia turned around to face her sister with worried eyes.

"Alendle, we aren't going the right way." She whispered. Alendle laughed a little nervously and replied,

"No, we are going the right way. We left straight from the stream and walked back the way we came." She shivered and wrapped her arms around her body.

"If we were going the right way, then why aren't we there yet? Or why can't we see the fire, we weren't that far from camp." Arcadia said looking around her, but all she could see was the white of the fog that was enclosing them in the area. 

"Well let's go back to the stream and then start over again." Alendle said turning around and walking back the way she had come. 

A few minutes later Alendle stopped walking and looked around her.

"Yep, we're lost. So what should we -" Alendle stopped in mid sentence realizing that Arcadia wasn't behind her. "Arcadia! This isn't funny, I can't see and I'm really cold, now come on I want to get back." Alendle whined loudly into the fog, but the only reply was her own voice echoing back. She hurriedly made her way back the way she had come, calling out to her sister every few feet. 

After backtracking for a few minutes she started to look around her. The mists were still as bad as before and she could not see anything. She turned and started to walk backward looking at the tracks that her shoes were making in the soft mud. She then turned around and started looking ahead with worried eyes that were beginning to sting. She reached up and started rub them, slipping on a mound of mud knocking her off balance and she fell forward. 

Reaching her arms out to break her fall, only to have them slam into cloth. Whatever was in front of her had broken her fall and was _moving_.

Arcadia stood still watching her sister disappear into the mists trying to scream after her, but something had twined around her neck. She clawed at the invisible string that was slowly cutting off her air, when she heard her sister's voice from a distance. She reached one hand out towards the direction that the voice was coming from and tried helplessly to call back out to her.

She smiled in relief as she saw her sister's silhouette come into view. She struggled against the ever tightening string, eyes watering, as she watched her sister get nearer and nearer. 

_Wait_. That couldn't be her sister, Alendle was a lot shorter than that. It must be their father, he had realized that they were gone for so long and had came looking for them. She tensed as the string tightened to the point where she started to lose her sight and the world started to spin. 

Suddenly the string around her neck loosened and she could breath again. She tried to claw at her neck just to make sure that the string was gone and then realized that she was on her knees, hands tied behind her back. She slowly looked up, not really wanting to see what was standing right in front of her.

"Arcadia." A hushed voice said in her ear. She jumped at the sound and looked straight into a hooded face. She yelled out and struggled to free herself from her ties. "Calm down, it's only going to get tighter." The figure hissed. The ties were in fact getting a lot tighter then they had been before, and Arcadia looked up with fear in her eyes at the dark figure.

The stranger was tall, very tall, at least six feet and five inches, and wore a long, dark robe with a hood that covered its entire face. Arcadia tried to move away from the stranger and only succeeded in making her ties that much tighter. She stopped trying to get away and started to panic, she couldn't see anything around her, her sister was gone, and there was a dark hooded figure towering over her.

She sat still, what else could she do, and waited for the stranger to do something, and before she knew it he was grabbing her arms and tugging her to her feet. She started to scream, and then suddenly there was an invisible gag in her mouth. 

He pulled her roughly to a standing position and then let her go. She stood helpless staring at his dark form, when he started to laugh; a laugh that Arcadia remembered. She couldn't put her finger on it right then, but she knew it and knew it well. 

Then he reached painfully slow up to the outside of his dark hood that veiled his face from her vision and started to pull it away. She watched in horror as he removed the hood to reveal a sharp-featured face with a scar. Not just any scar but one that ran from the bridge of his nose under his left eye and down to the middle of his cheek. 

Fear was the only thing that she could feel and fear is what he saw. He started to laugh again, until he was knocked forward from behind. The hood fell forward, back onto his face, and he turned to see _Arcadia_? No that couldn't be she was tied up behind him, who was this? 

Well he didn't have time to think about that, and with a loud crack he was gone.


	3. Lestat

A/N: I see that no one seems to be reading my story, but I'll give it another try anywayI think it's a good story*sniff*

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"What was that?" Alendle asked breathlessly. Arcadia looked up at her, fear still clear in her eyes. 

"Did you see his face?" Arcadia asked. Alendle shook her head and looked worriedly at her sister.

"No, his hood covered his whole face, but what did he do to you?" Alendle asked.

"I think he tried to suffocate me, and then I don't know what he had planned but he tied me up andhelp me!" Arcadia yelled, realizing that her hands were still bound her. 

Alendle went to her and looked at her hands. She touched them cautiously and then pulled back quickly as if being burned. 

"What's wrong? Just get them off of me!" Arcadia said in a nervous voice. Alendle came around front of her sister and looked all around her, then replied,

"There's nothing there, I mean I can't feel any rope holding your hands together. But when I touched the 'bindings' I could feel a strong magic that was trying to drain mine right out of me. Here I'll get them off." Alendle stood back from her sister and held out her arms. Blue magic streamed from her fingers towards the invisible bonds on her sister's hands. It rolled around her wrists, outlining the bonds and slowly breaking them. When Arcadia felt her hands fall free, she began to rub the sore spots. 

"Thanks. How did you do that?" Arcadia asked. Alendle smiled at her and replied,

"I asked them to break." Arcadia looked at her with amusement in her eyes.

"Well let's get back to camp and you can tell me what that man looked like on the way." Both girls made a silent promise then that they wouldn't tell anyone about this 'incident' and they made their way back to the camp.

The mists that had covered the land were no longer present. 

"Girls! Wake up and stay alert, would you be doing this in the middle of a war, or a march?" Their father barked at their slumped forms. They had gone back to camp finding their father sound asleep and they quietly slipped into their own bedrolls about an hour before sunrise. Now they were both slumped over on their horses trying vigorously to stay awake.

Arcadia slowed to a slow walk and suddenly she felt herself falling off of the horse, but instead of hitting the hard ground like she had expected her horse quickly caught her. She smiled at the beautiful creature silently thanking him, and hoping that he would do the same when it happened again.

_Welcome_. 

Arcadia jumped at hearing the young male voice. She looked around quickly causing her to once again slide out of the saddle.

_Careful_!

Arcadia was once again saved from hitting the ground by her horse, and it was then that she realized that her horse was talking to her. She leaned down, now fully awake, and put her face close to the horsed mane.

"Are you talking to me? Oh this is stupid, I don't have wild magic!" Arcadia proclaimed leaning back up in the saddle. 

_Neither do I_. 

This time the horse threw its head up and turned to look at Arcadia for a second then returned to his original position. Arcadia opened and closed her mouth several times before finally giving up, what could she say? 

"All right there?" Alendle said slowing her horse so she could traught alongside her sister. Arcadia smiled crazily at her sister and replied,

"Of course everything's all right, I'm just talking to my horse. How about you?" Alendle looked at her sister with amusement in her eyes and kicked her horse into a faster trought yelling back as she did so,

"Tell him 'Hi ' for me." Arcadia smiled smugly after her. 

That night they rode up to the little boarding house in the heart of Corus. They let the hustler take their horses and then took their bags into the rooms they would be staying in. When the girls had set their bags down on their beds and laid down for a rest after the long ride, their father walked into their room leaning up against the doorway. 

"So anyone up for dinner?" He asked both girls jumped up excitedly and ran right by their father headed for the stables. 

"Five dollars, says you can't beat me!" Alendle yelled at her sister, sprinting to get ahead of her.

"Girls, we don't need the horses! We're walking!" Alex yelled after them. Both girls stopped and then Arcadia yelled,

"Ten dollars, says you can't beat me!" She already being behind Alendle ran back to their father, before Alendle even had time to react.

When they reached the their destination, both girls looked up at the small weather worn sign that read:

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The Dancing Dove 

Their father, who didn't want to wait in the cold, quickly ushered them in as they stared at the sign. Both girls' mouths dropped in utter disbelief that their father of all people would take them to a place like this.

Beer maids ran around the room with low-cut shirts and short skirts on, holding trays of tankards full of many types of liquor, avoiding the wanting hands of many drunk and sober men. 

One such woman came over to the group and smiled warmly at them and then looked up approvingly at Alex. 

"These are yours?" She asked in a sweet common tongue. Alex nodded following the maid to a table set apart from all the rustle. 

"What was that?" Alendle asked with a raised eyebrow in her father's direction. Her father laughed and replied,

"Just an old friend." Alendle leaned over closer to Arcadia and whispered,

"She doesn't seem that old to me." Arcadia replied by slugging her sister in the arm. They both broke out in fits of laughter. Alex smiled at his daughters and then ordered dinner and drinks for them.

After they had finished their dinner, a few younger men walked in the door and were instantly greeted with loud shouts from the men in the room. The man from behind the bar came over to them and whispered into the leader's ear. Then the group followed the older man up to a table set apart from the rest and were all seated there. 

The older man then spoke to a maid, who then ran up the narrow set of stairs that were unnoticed by the girls until that moment. 

When the maid returned the room had quieted back to normal and she was closely followed by none other than the young man that had sold the girls their fine horses. When their father saw what the girls were staring at his mouth dropped open and he watched as all of the men conversed. Among the men, were squires and a few pages, one of which happened to be the prince. He looked at the man who they all seemed to be focused on and mumbled under his breath. 

"What?" Arcadia asked looking away from the table. Alex jumped when he heard her voice. He shook his head and then motioned for them all to get up and head out. The girls did as they were told, but weren't happy about it. 

Alendle looked back just before heading out the door and spotted the handsome young man looking curiously at her. When he saw her looking back at him, he smiled at her and waved. Caught off guard, Alendle timidly waved back before quickly dashing out of the pub.

"Arcadia." Alendle shook her sister's shoulder. Arcadia mumbled and rolled over looking tired. 

"What?" Arcadia asked grumpily. It had been only about an hour after they had returned from the small pub and Alendle had not been able to sleep. 

"I'll be back in a few minutes." She whispered. Arcadia shook her head and then rolled back over, falling back asleep before she was even settled down. Alendle smiled down at her sister, before slipping a heavy black cape over her shoulders and walking out of the room.

When Alendle reached the pub two men fighting wildly blocked the door. Alendle tried to get around them, but they saw her and stopped fighting at once. 

"Well what do we have here?" One of the men asked. They both had long forgotten whatever they were fighting about and now were focused on her. They moved so that they were on either side of her and started to close in, Alendle started to panic and then remembered that she had a gift, all she needed to do was use it.

"Black Goddess!" Lestat Townsend heard, craning his neck to see who was yelling. Two large men came bursting into the bar. They ran through the back door like they were being chased by the death itself. Half of the room was focused on the men, and the other half was quivering waiting for whatever had made the men yell so, to come through the door. 

Alendle strolled in to find herself being stared at. She ducked her head and took a seat away from the rest of the people. A maid soon came over to her carrying a large tankard, and put it down on the table cautiously. Then she pointed over to the man sitting at the table where he had been sitting at earlier. 

" 'E wants t'e see ye when ye're done." The maid said to Alendle, she watched as the young man lifted his tankard in a toast. She did the same and smiled thinking,

__

Do I know who he is?

She shook the words off of her shoulders before taking a drink from the tankard supplied for her. 

Hard liquor. 

Alendle choked and sputtered, but the liquid went down, and when she looked up she saw the young man he had amusement in his eyes. That little pest, he knows that I'm too young for this drink. Alendle smiled back at the stranger and then raised her tankard, draining it. When she slammed it down on the table, heads turned her way and the maid came back to collect the empty cup. 

"I'll take another one of those, on his tab." Alendle said to the maid before she walked away. When the maid brought the filled tankard back Alendle took it thanking the maid and then stood up to make her way over to the young man.

"This is good." Alendle commented as she took a seat at the table where the man sat. He smiled and raised his tankard once more, Alendle raises hers' also and they both drain the contents. Alendle used the back of her hand to wipe the liquid away from the edges of her mouth. 

"How old are you?" The young man asked. Alendle looked up at him and smiled sweetly.

"Before we start asking personal questions like that, my name is Alendle." She reached her hand out to him and he took it into his own.

Suddenly flashes of people covered in blood, flashed through Alendle's mind and she gasped pulling her hand back from his grasp.

"What's wrong me lady?" He asked looking concerned. Alendle touched her hand as if to see if it was hot or cold. 

"I just need some cold air." She replied. She stood up and gathered her cape. She quickly walked away from the pub, feeling suddenly tired and very scared.


	4. Visions

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A/N: Well I got a few more reviews this last time, and I tried to revise my story so that it would be a little moreinteresting. I know it's moving a little slow but I have a plot and a good one at that so hold on.

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"Ready?" Alex asked his twin daughters, through the wood of their boarding room door. He waited at the door for a few more seconds before knocking again.

"Hold on, we'll be right down." Alendle yelled through the door to her father. 

"All right, I'll be downstairs getting the horses tacked up, and then we'll go for a little grub." He said through the door. Alex then turned away from the door and made his way down the narrow hall towards the stables.

Inside the room, Arcadia and Alendle sat on one of the beds holding hands, staring intently at each other.

"Ready?" Arcadia asked, Alendle nodded. They had never done anything like this before. They were going to make a spell that would allow them to see the future. 

Slowly both twins closed their eyes and began to chant an old tune, with words that were known to no one except them, to the world the language was dead. Arcadia squeezed Alendle's hands tightly and they raised them in the air. 

Both heads snapped back fast enough to break them but both girls remained unharmed. In Alendle' s vision she saw a young man, blood draining down his neck. Then she saw a beautiful girl of about the age of twenty standing near a large, dark tree.

Arcadia saw entirely different scenes. She saw the man who had tried to kill her a couple nights before. The scar was broken and bleeding, he advanced on her and she screamed, but found a sword in her hand. She raised it high in the air and then

Both girls, breathing hard, lifted their heads. Both felt the toll of the magic right away and reached for the headache remedy. Soon they rejoined their father, who had their horses all ready and they made their way to the Dancing Dove, where they would be eating breakfast before heading to the palace.

Both girls knew that they weren't going to tell one another about their future sights, they had made a promise before. Even if they saw death for their twin, not a word was to be said. The future was set and they were not to change it.

N N

The palace loomed before the small group riding into it. Alendle stared up to the highest point on the palace and smiled. She would climb that and sit up there, watching the stars one night. Arcadia on the other hand felt fear seize her heart and wrap a tight rope around it. She was nervous, she wanted to be accepted and she wanted to impress. 

Alendle feeling her sister's tension drew up alongside her and smiled.

"Don't worry so much, we're not even inside." Arcadia felt a coolness stream into her blood and cool her whole body. She loved it when her sister did that, she had no idea how she did it, but it worked every time. She smiled warmly at her sister and they both looked on with newly found confidence at the large task that lay before them.

Inside the Duke of Naxen's office, both girls sat silently looking around the beautifully furnished room. Down to the last stitch of thread in the curtains spelled wealth and good taste. Both girls knew that they were going to like the Duke, and they hoped he would think the same of them.

The door swung open and a man in a suit of black velvet stood towering. The twins stood up quickly and looked at the man's handsome face.

"Hello, Alendle and Arcadia of fief Dunsmuir. I am the Duke Gareth of Naxen and I will be checking up on you throughout your time in the palace. Nothing will go unnoticed, no training error, accident, nothing. Mark my words if you two misbehave you will see a lot of me and trust me that isn't a good thing, but if you do behave you will be rewarded. Now you will spend the first four years as pages, which consists of working at banquets and waiting on nobles. You will be assigned a sponsor and that sponsor will show you around the palace for the first few days. Now after you leave my office you will go to the fitting room and be fitted for pages' clothes and then you will be shown to your room." He finished. Both girls sat staring at him with mouths open. 

Alex, who had been standing in the back of the room the whole time, smiled and kicked the backs of the girls' chairs. Both reacted at the same time, standing up and thanking the Duke. 

"Very well. I will hope to hear good things form you. You are excused." The Duke said to the twins, who bowed slightly and left the room. Outside the door stood a young servant whom when he saw the girls smiled to himself and led the way to the fitting rooms.

"I'm happy their here, you know Alex." The Gareth said. Alex turned to look at him after watching his daughters walk away down the hall.

"Yes, I am too. It's just that I'm going to miss them so much." Alex replied taking a seat across from Gareth. Gareth smiled at Alex and said,

"Let me take you out to lunch before you leave. Have you been to the Dancing Dove?"

The twins followed the same servant as before, who was now leading them to the room they would be staying in. They both clutched a stack of clothing in their arms, struggling to keep up with the large strides of the servant.

When they were settled in their room, which they had been given for both of them. The room was larger than most of the other pages' rooms of course. They looked around the small room that would be their home for the next four years and sighed. 

"Well it' s not as bad as I thought it was going to be." Alendle commented. Arcadia gave her a skeptical look.

"Wait until we meet the rest of the pages, then we can see if it's as bad as we thought." She said putting on the large cotton shirt that was given to her by the fitters. Suddenly the material shrank down to a perfect size for her body. She turned around to see Alendle smiling at her as the stream of blue magic disappeared from her fingertips. 

"Thanks, how do you do that anyway?" Arcadia asked looking at the shirt. Alendle shrugged putting her own shirt on.

"I asked it to fit you, that's all. Here you try it." Alendle replied pointing to her own shirt. Arcadia looked at her sister skeptically and then extended her arms out in front of her closing her eyes and concentrating on the threads of Alendle's shirt. "Just ask the shirt to fit that's all, don't work too hard." Alendle encouraged her sister. 

Arcadia blew out a breath of air and then shrugged her shoulders.

_Okay, if she's really serious then, please will you fit my sister? I know I should just let her look funny, no I'm just kidding, please fit her._

Arcadia opened her eyes slowly and looked at her sister who had her back to Arcadia. 

"Arcadia!" Was all Alendle could say, because the shirt that was way too big for her was now at least three sizes too small for her. She heaved trying to get as much breath as possible. Arcadia panicked and brought her hands back out in front of her, the blue of her magic flew through the air and engulfed Alendle's struggling frame and slowly the shirt became larger until it looked identical to the one Arcadia wore herself.

"Are you all right?" Arcadia asked as the remains of her magic thread disappeared from the air. Alendle looked at her with a red face and replied,

"Of course I'm all right! You just part-near killed me!" She huffed as she pulled on the bottom of her shirt as if to make sure it was going to stay that size. When she was satisfied she turned back to her sister and smiled. "Sorry I got so mad at you. I just was a little uncomfortable." She said. Arcadia perked up and walked over to her sister.

"With a little more practice I won't be killing you anymore." Both girls started to walk towards the door.

"Yeah, just as long as the practicing isn't on me." Alendle whispered under her breath.

****

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So what do you think so far? Do you have any suggestions? I have an idea for all those reading my story stillI would love to add a few more characters to my story, but I need the personalities to go along with themand I was thinking that instead of making them up I could take some of my readers and make them into my characters. 

In simple words; if you would like to be a character in my story than review and/or email me and we can see about it! Thanks!


	5. Welcome

Everyone in the room stood up silently, all looking towards the door. Two girls entered the room walking side by side looking about them at all the men standing. Whispers flew through the room faster than lightning.

'Who are they?' 

'Why are they dressed in common clothes and not in fine dresses?'

'Why are they here?'

Arcadia and Alendle walked through the middle of the pages banquet hall looking at all their peers and feeling oddly sick. Arcadia looked up and saw an older man sitting at the front of the hall trying as hard as he could to hide a smile. Finally he stood and announced,

"What a great welcome you have all given these two girls. I had no clue that you all were so accepting so fast. Well I hope you two, Arcadia and Alendle of the fief Dunsmuir, will enjoy your experience here." Then he sat down and continued to eat, still smiling.

Both girls grinned realizing that all the young men had no clue that they were coming and that is why all of them stood looking absolutely dumbfounded. They both grabbed food trays and when they were filled with food the girls went and found a seat near the back of the room.

"There's the door just in case we need to get to it faster than we think." Arcadia whispered to her sister, who looked up at her with a full mouth of food and smiled. They continued to eat as one by one the rest of the pages and men sat down.

They were both back in their rooms 'fitting' their page, banquet clothes and getting ready, they would each wait on Duke Gareth and work in the kitchen before their night was over. 

"How do I look?" Arcadia asked Alendle. Alendle snorted and replied,

"Better if you had your breeches on, that's for sure!" Arcadia stuck her tongue out at her sister as Alendle threw her, her breeches. Both girls started to laugh when a sharp knock sounded at the door. Both girls jumped holding on to each other for support and then a little shaken Alendle went to answer the door. 

There stood a young man maybe a little older than she. He was tall and had black hair that was cut shorter than most men his age. He smiled warmly at her and then bowed.

"Welcome my lady, I am Brigham Young of Coldwater and I will be your sponsor this evening." He said in a sweet voice as he took Alendle's hand into his. She laughed inwardly as he kissed her hand.

_If they all do this every time they see me, I'm going to die._

"Thank you sir Brigham, I am honored by your sponsorship. Now do you know who will be escorting my sister?" Alendle asked. He looked lost and then looked over her shoulder into their room. 

"There's-there's two of you?" He stuttered. Alendle smirked and replied,

"Of course there's two of us, doesn't anyone tell you anything around here?" 

When Arcadia came to stand next to her sister, Brigham looked form one to another astounded.

"Which is which?" He finally managed to get out. 

"Well I'm Alendle and my sister is Arcadia." Brigham knew that until he got to know the girls better, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them even if he tried.

Arcadia came around one side of Brigham and Alendle takes the other side and Brigham still lost starts to lead them towards the banquet hall.

"Another, and another, and oh here's another." Arcadia said handing dishes to her sister whom was washing them as quickly as she could. Arcadia had just been relieved of her duty just as Alendle took her place as dishwasher. Arcadia quickly sprinted into the banquet hall to wait on Duke Gareth. She ran by some other pages that quickly stepped out of her way, which surprised her. 

"How are you doing?" Duke Gareth asked. Arcadia smiled warmly at him and replied,

"Just fine." Then she picked up his remaining dishes and ran off to give them to Alendle, just as Alendle had done to her earlier.

"How are you?" A young man asked Alendle, who brushed a loose piece of hair away from her face and then continued to wash the dishes given to her. 

"Fine thank you for asking. I could use a break, but this is almost over right?" She replied looking around for the boy who had spoken to her. He stood behind her putting dishes away in the large cupboards. 

"I could use a break too, but it's not so bad after a while. Aren't you new? I've never seen you here before, I'm Nero." He said smiling at her. She smiled back at him and then turned to see her sister leaning on the counter smiling idly at her. 

"Meet someone you like?" She asked. Alendle stuck her tongue out and replied,

"We're too young for that Arcadia!" Arcadia pushed a small stack of dirty plates towards Alendle and then ran off yet again. 

"How was it?" Arcadia asked from inside their bathroom. Alendle sat down heavily on her bed with a sigh, and replied,

"Tiring, you?" She started to undress as Arcadia came back into the room carrying a slim stick that was about four feet long and beautifully polished. Alendle pulled the nightgown over her head and grumbled under breath.

"Oh quite you big baby! I'm tired too; I can't believe how much that man can eat! Now stand up!" Arcadia said. Alendle glared at her sister as she stood up and came to stand in front of her. 

Suddenly Arcadia swung the stick under Alendle's legs, but Alendle jumped high in the air missing the stick. Alendle's eyes quickly returned to Arcadia's waist, where she had been trained to watch the movements that told her where Arcadia was planning to hit. Arcadia continued to swing the stick, sometimes at her head, others at her waist. 

"So what do you think about all the other pages?" Alendle asked a little out of breath. Arcadia smiled at her as she swung the stick high aiming for her head. Alendle ducked just in time and swung her foot out to trip Arcadia, who jumped up and swung the stick at Alendle again in the same motion. 

"I don't think any of them like us much after what happened this morning." Arcadia replied as she handed Alendle the wooden stick. Alendle grabbed the stick from her sister.

"I don't think so either, but that Brigham Young seems to like us just fine." Alendle took the stick in her left hand and swept it slowly under Arcadia's feet and then as she was jumping the stick, Alendle threw the stick into her right hand and swung quickly at Arcadia's head.

"Alendle! Yeah he seems all right but we'll have to see." Arcadia replied. Alendle smirked at her and continued to swing the stick at her sister.

A/N: Hey I haven't been updating lately, buy I haven't gotten a lot of reviews asking me to either! Sorrylol I'll just be happy if I get a few more reviews.


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